Relates Victorian attitudes toward education by a forgotten 19th century liberal educator concerned with proper moral education. Concludes that uses and development of basic literacy are severely bound by individual and social contexts and that basic literacy does not, in itself, wield a magical transforming power for learning and life. (TRS)

Questions whether people during the past century had access to a range of reading materials and asks whether various groups of people acquired different levels of literacy skills. Concludes that the United States needs educational and cultural policies that will increase literacy skills while fostering the variety of materials read by citizens.…